Marc Forster on Quantum of Solace

Marc Forster has previously directed movies like Monster's Ball, Finding Neverland and The Kite Runner. Quantum of Solace is not only his first action movie, but his chance to bring a different sensibility to the franchise. Most noticeably, his Bond film is brief at 100 minutes, with fast editing and little exposition.

Marc Forster on Quantum of Solace

"I always thought that I wanted the film to feel like a bullet at its start and keep you on the edge of your seat until the end," said Forster. "I always thought that the pacing should be pretty tight and move like that. I tried to shoot it very differently than the Bourne films anyway, or I shot differently. The only difference is if you're in an action kind of situation, to make it more realistic and intense and connect with the character, you automatically have to shoot more handheld. You don't have a choice really."

Quantum of Solace continues the modern day interpretation of James Bond from Casino Royale. Certain hallmarks keep it in the 007 tradition, and Forster had a few favorites. "What I enjoyed in the '60s, the early '60s, those Bonds, the visual contexts of those films, the ones Ken Adams designed. I felt like it would be interesting to bring some of those design elements into this film. I have a bit of a retro look but also then pushing it more in a futuristic way. Like a revamp of Mi6 which also was old and traditional, to modernize and sort of juxtapose those two worlds against one another."

This is Daniel Craig's second portrayal of Bond. Having established his persona in Casino Royale, Forster pushed Craig his in his direction of the character. "Basically we met very early on and just went over the script and discussed the character. I said, 'Look, what interests me is the last five minutes of Casino Royale, where this character was left off, and the emotional state of this character. He just lost the love of his life.' I felt like I wanted to dig into his pain more, into his demons. Obviously the success of Bond is sort of that he's a mysterious character, but at the same time in that mystery that you sort of can connect with him or see glimpse of his inner pain or emotional life."

With all of these big ideas, Forster didn't even know what a strict world he was playing in when he accepted the film. "You know, I didn't really have any preconceived notion what it means to make a Bond movie. I didn't realize that the intensity and the media attention would be so enormous. I definitely felt like I think The Kite Runner was a very good preparation for me on this because I had enormous pressure there. The book sold eight million copies and people said, 'Oh this is my favorite book ever. You better not ruin the movie.' So I felt like suddenly with Bond that tension was so much more intense because Casino Royale was the most successful Bond ever, box office-wise, but it was critically a huge success. So to follow up to that, the expectations were extremely high. And that pressure I definitely felt while making the movie. In a sense, it was what I expected because Daniel Craig is such a great collaborator. The two of us were able to work so well together, so I really enjoyed that."